“My god, how many times do we have to ask you to stop calling us that?” the very short woman asked, following up with, “Hi, my name is Maria. I’m the group's blacksmith.” I looked down at the almost comically small woman trying to hide the hint of a smile forming. She reached out for a handshake before realizing she still had on thick elbow length leather gloves. “Sorry about that, I just got done doing some work on a client's piece.” she said, removing the glove and giving me a nearly bone crushing handshake.

“I’m Michael but my friends call me Mike.” I said, wincing. “I’m James' roommate and old friend from before the collapse.”

“Sorry about her, she doesn’t know how to handle people since all she ever touches is metal.” the dark skinned man with the guitar said with a grin. “The names Abraham, but you can call me Abe or Maestro. I’m a musician both in and out of the dungeon.”

“Nice to meet you Abe, and it’s alright, I think my hand will heal.” I said with a slight nervous chuckle, reaching out to shake his hand. When he didn’t immediately shake my hand I looked down and realized I was trying to shake his nonexistent right hand. “Fuck, I’m so sorry, here.” I said, offering him my left hand to shake.

“S’all good man, you aren’t the first, and you won’t be the last.” Abe said with a kind, knowing smile.

The other man stepped forward, hand already out, saying, “Name’s Carlos.” A bit of a glow came out of Carlos’ hand as it met mine, and I felt a bit of my muscle soreness alleviate. “That’s about all I can do for you since you don’t have a class yet, but it’s a hint of what I do every day to keep these fuckers alive.” A tinge of pain lashed my heart, and I cursed the system internally for the inability of healers to properly help people without classes.

“I appreciate it man. I’m assuming you were a doctor or nurse before the collapse? You’ve got that vibe of wanting to help make people better.” I said, trying to compliment him and alleviate the anxiety I feel building up.

The robed woman brought her hand to her mouth stifling a laugh as Carlos spoke again, “No uh, actually I was an MMA fighter, but thanks? I guess.”

Alright. Three out of four of the interactions have already gone wrong. Surely I can’t screw them all up. I reached out to the robed woman. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you. What’s your name?” I asked her.

“And we’re 4 for 4 with bad introductions, Mike.” James said laughing as the robed woman covered her mouth again, doubling over to try not to laugh out loud. “This is Robin. She’s a monk class and one of her passives makes her stronger the longer she maintains a vow of silence. It’s pretty hard for her since she was a comedian in the old world.”

I hope my class lets me control time and go back to the beginning of this conversation. I thought.

Once she’d managed to successfully stifle her laughter, Robin stood up, pulled out a white board, and wrote, “Great first impression, Mike. Nice to meet you, too.”

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Scratching the back of my head with a nervous chuckle, I said, “Uh well I better get going, I have a class to get and all. Thanks for introducing me to your friends, James. It was nice meeting you all,” and turned around to leave. I quickly realized I didn’t know where I was going and stopped. I turned around and said, “Hey James, where do I go?” which led Robin to physically biting her hand in order to keep from laughing.

James smiled and said, “Just go to where the old information desk was, they’ve set it up to be the hub for all the diving spots. They’ll send you to a proper beginner dungeon.” I turned, starting to leave. “Oh and Mike? Good luck,” He finished.

“God, that was embarrassing”, I thought. At least it’s over. I looked back at them to see Robin write down, “‘I like him. He’s funny.’” on her board. If one of them liked me, then that at least was a good start.

I begin heading toward where I remember the information desk was, finding it quite a bit different than I remember it being. A man who was probably a college student before the collapse sits behind the counter counting out different coins into stacks as I approach. The first thing I notice are his piercing blue eyes. Quite literally piercing, as it feels like he’s looking into me as I approach. Everything about the way he looked at me made me feel uneasy.

Still though, this is my only way forward. With the motivation of getting my class, I approached. “Good morning, Michael, I assume it’s your first time at The Haul seeing as you’re only level 7” He stated more than asked.

“It… is. How do you know my name and level?” I tentatively asked him.

“It’s one of my class abilities, it allows me to see status screens for both people and monsters alike. It’s kind of rare to see someone as low of a level as you are at this point. I assume you’ll be wanting to head into one of the starter dungeons and acquire your class?” He inquired.

“Yeah, that basically sums it up,” I said.

“Well, first things first, you’ll need to get registered with The Haul and assigned a rank. Please put your hand on this Mana Reader so we can officially figure out your mana level and assign you a rank,” he said. I held out my hand to meet a black hexagonal stone he set out on the counter. As I placed my hand on it, my mana reading displayed in the air above it, [183 Mana]. He spoke again, “Interesting. We’re going to assign you rank E rather than E-, but unluckily for you, that still means you’ll have to go in the easiest dungeon we have. No worries though as it’ll be a good way to learn what the rest of the dungeons will have in store for you.” If not for the fact that I’d planned on going into the easiest dungeon to begin with and the fact that he seemed slightly impressed with my mana level, I think his words would’ve stung a bit.

After listening to all he had to say, I responded with, “Thank you…” glanced downward expecting to see a name tag, forgetting the changes the world had faced for just a moment as I dealt with the equivalent of customer service.

“Thomas,” he said.

“Thank you, Thomas,” I responded.

“If you’ll please follow me,” he spoke again, leaving the counter unmanned. “This will only take a moment.” Letting him lead the way, we head into what once was a pretty popular lingerie store, that now functions solely as a dungeon entrance.

Arriving at our destination, he showed me to a tunnel with a set of torch-lit, finely carved stairs. He began a finely rehearsed speech he’d no doubt given countless times, “Down this passageway, you’ll find the entrance to the starter dungeon. Most of what you’ll find will be level 3-5 Goblins, with the difficulty climbing the further in you go. Their levels will increase up to 15 with the occasional mutant spawn reaching level 20. The dungeon boss is usually a level 19-22 Orc, but it has occasionally spawned at levels 25-28, but you will know the difference as the boss room portal will have an orange portal rather than a yellow one. We are required to recommend that you have a party containing at least 4 level 17 divers before challenging the boss, or being at least level 24 before attempting the boss solo. There is a 15 copper entry fee for the Starter Dungeon, however you may waive this fee by signing this form stating you will be giving The Haul 50%, rounded up, of all dungeon drops you gather in this diving session. Did you catch all that or would you like me to repeat anything?”

I responded with, “No sir, I caught it all,” and quickly signed his form heading down the stairs. I’ve spent far too long on my ass and am beyond eager to get started living like the people in this new world do.

I toss a “Thank you” over my shoulder in response to his, “Good Luck!” as I round a corner and find myself staring into a light blue shimmering portal hovering a few inches off of the ground. I take a deep breath and steel my nerves.

Speaking aloud to psych myself up, I say,

“In we go.”